


Manipulation's a Bitch

by FTW_Wolvie



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mob, Mobcast AU, Mobscast AU, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-01
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-03-10 01:49:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3272297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FTW_Wolvie/pseuds/FTW_Wolvie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Manipulation's a bitch. Xephos can't think of any other way to put it. Who likes to be used like a puppet, having one string yanked one way and the other, to the point where you don't know what you're doing, because it's all under the control of someone else. Xephos can't even tell what he should be doing now, he's just lying useless until the next person comes along and strings him up again.</p>
<p>And no matter how obvious it is, you never see it coming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Letter of Introduction...And Invitation

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my first shot at a Mobcast fanfic, lemme know how I do! Also, if you happen to think of any... whatchamacallits canons, feel free to let me know in the comments, I might add it in my story!

Xephos lazily weaved a coin between his fingers, hardly glancing at his hand to see what he was doing. Instead, he was concentrating on the papers in from of him. He sighed, shuffling through his papers for what seemed like the hundredth time this afternoon. The whole "mob life" notion was a load of horseshit. It wasn't all running around, mugging random strangers in hidden alleyways. Honeydew Inc. had an image to maintain, that image being the most prestigious dessert company in the world, especially well known for their Jaffa Cakes (which Xephos was pretty sure was a biscuit, but what can you do? It was a cake under VAT classifications). Sure, there may be rumours of blood mysteriously appearing in some of their factory and warehouse basements, and of screams emanating from said buildings, but anyone who imagined such things always disappeared, strangely enough. 

Xephos paused in his shuffling. At the bottom of the pile, there was a card, addressed to one Xephos Brindley. Strange, this pile was only for business papers, and this card seemed more like an invitation to a fancy event then anything else. Ah well, he thought. Might as well open it anyway.

_Dear Xephos Brindley,_

_It has come to my attention that you are the main coordinator of all things Honeydew Inc., regardless of your supposed superior friend's name being the one the company is named for. It also appears to me that you are the people responsible for most of the organized crime gangs in this city, engaging in frankly petty rivalries against SipsCo. So, this should make it easy for me to introduce myself. My name is Ridgedog, or you might know me as the Dogfather. I think that's what the police call me nowadays, anyway._

Xephos paused in his reading, coin slipping soundlessly from his fingers into his lap. Ridgedog. The Dogfather. Not only did those words ring a bell in his mind, but they also sounded an alarm. This man had his fingers stuck in everything, from the small crimes occurring on a daily basis, to huge, organized mobs such as theirs. Except they'd manage to keep under his radar since they've developed. He's been pretty quiet lately, which gave Xephos all the more reason to be wary of this man. Not to mention if you have any sort of deal with him, which Xephos was certain was going to happen- everything Ridgedog did was to his benefit- one step out of line and you were gone. Nada. Without a trace. But there were benefits to working with him as well. If you were a good pet and catered to his whims, you were set for life in luxury. But Xephos didn't exactly have any plans to become anyone's dog just yet.

_Now, you might be wondering why I'm writing this card to you. You probably think you've kept under my line of sight all this time. Well my boy, you are wrong. I've kept my eye on you for a while now, ever since your little company popped up. I've got eyes and ears everywhere, and by now, I know every little secret your company has to hide. But don't worry, I'm not here to blackmail you. I simply want to give to an invitation. You can bring your friends if you like, I believe you rather enjoy the company of that scientist, as well as that hairy dwarf, but pop by the docks at say, noon tomorrow? I'd love to have a nicer chat then._

_Until then,_

_Ridgedog_

Xephos carefully picked up his coin that had fell on his leg, and started his fingers moving again. He wasn't entirely sure whether he should go or not. Eventually, after weighing he pros and cons and thinking about it for a few more minutes, he decided that he would go see Lalna and Honeydew to talk to them about it. After grabbing his suitcase, he walked out of his office, glancing at the clock in the hallway after he did so, and was surprised to see the time being so late. In a few minutes most of the workers would pack up and go home, leaving a select few in the factory, where no one could see what they did. He strolled through the halls for a bit, watching the workers rush by him on their way back home, a few murmuring hasty apologies as they bumped into him. At last, the offices were empty, seeming as close to deserted as it ever got. Now, Xephos went down to the penthouse level, where Honeydew was undoubtedly spending his time. 

"Honeydew?" Xephos called out as he let himself into the room.

"Hey Xephos! How's it going?" Honeydew let out a toothy grin, hauling himself out of his seat, his happy trail disappearing as he hitched up his pants. 

"I'm doing well, friend." Xephos said, smiling, and making his way towards Honeydew's private bar.

"That's always good to hear. Any business papers you need me to sign?" Honeydew asked, pen already in hand.

"Um, yeah, I do actually," Xephos took out a folder practically overflowing with papers, and neatly extracted a few, handing them over to his friend. "This one's from the people who tried to sue us a few months ago."

"Oh yeah, the buggers who had a conspiracy theory that we were some kind of alien race who had come to poison them with our Jaffa Cakes then kill us, just because they'd gotten a bit sick after eating ten packs of 20 Jaffa Cakes in an hour?"

"Precisely." Xephos chuckled a little, remembering the crazy middle-aged woman who had ran into their main offices here one day, trying to destroy our computers, claiming to "destroy all communication with filthy fucking aliens".

"So how did the ordeal go?" 

"Not bad. The judges seemed to agree with us that she was a bit off her rocker, so we counter-sued for about 500 grand. Not too harsh, if you ask me."

"Yeah, that's fine." Honeydew quickly skimmed through the papers Xephos had handed them in the middle of their reminiscing, and signed his name with a big flourish on the lines. "Is that it?"

"Yup, should be. Things have been a bit light lately, what with the market crash and all." Xephos leafed through a few more papers, but everything seemed to be in order, so he tucked his folder back into his briefcase, allowing it to lay on its side on the ground.

"It's strange though, don't you think? Why would some of the biggest companies in the world sell their stocks for half price to some random company, and not tell anyone who it was?" Honeydew mused, then sharing a side-glance with Xephos, began laughing with him.

"Oh boy, that was a good day, don't you think? To think we had all of that dirt on that company, and with just a little suggestion from us, they were completely ready to sell us half of their stocks for half the normal?" Lewis grinned mischievously. "And now we own half of their company, and there's nothing they can do about it."

"Oh, but there's something we need to talk about, Honeydew." Lewis said, suddenly recalling the main purpose of his trip, despite the fact that he comes here everyday anyway.

"What is it?" his friend responded, inquiringly. 

"I got a letter, or invitation, from Ridgedog."

"What?" Honeydew gave a little start, skin paling the slightest bit. "How- What'd he want?" 

"Um, that's the thing..." Xephos shook his head slightly. "He just wanted to meet me at the docks. He said I could bring you and Lalna, and since obviously I will, I wanted to talk to you guys about whether or not we should go."

"Go where?" A voice interrupted Xephos' explanation. He and Honeydew both turned around, seeing the familiar face of their resident scientist Lalna. He looked like he'd just come from one of his experiments with who knows what, his lab coat almost completely covered in black grease until you could barely see the original white poking through.

"To the docks at noon tomorrow to see Ridgedog." Xephos answered calmly, noticing his friend's slightly widened eyes and paled face.

"D-Do you think that's a good idea?" Lalna stuttered, looking at Honeydew and Xephos in turn.

"Well, that's what I want to ask you and Honeydew for." 

"Um..." Honeydew thought for a moment, but he eventually said a hesitant yes.

Lalna however, was not quite so willing.

"I'm not so sure we should go..." Lalna said, leaving his sentence hanging in the air.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Honeydew said with a slight smile.

"What's the worst that could happen??" Lalna repeated with an incredulous tone in his voice. "The worst that could happen is he finds a way to make us his obedient dogs that can never think to ourselves, catering to his every whim until we drop dead, he kills us, or we kill ourselves!"

"Um..." Honeydew paused for a moment, not entirely sure what to say after Lalna's uncharacteristic outburst.

"It'll be fine, friend," Xephos said, trying to calm his friend down. "We won't do anything that makes you too uncomfortable, alright? I know just as well as you do how dangerous that man can be, and trust me, I don't want to get involved with him any more that you do."

"Then _don't_ go!" Lalna insisted. "If you don't want to mess with him, don't go!"

"But I'm curious," Xephos replied. "I want to see what he wants. Besides, we might be in more danger if we don't go versus if we do go. He may have worded his letter as a request, but I'm not entirely sure if it was so."

"Fine." Lalna sighed, running his hands through his hair, making it stand on end. "But I don't like this one bit."

"You don't have to, friend."


	2. Negotiations...Of A Sort

Xephos paused at the end of the walkway, running his hands nervously through his hair. The trio had taken the day off, discussing their upcoming meeting with Ridgedog, and doing a little planning before about what they might say to him. 

Xephos checked his watch.

11:50

If he knew anything about the omniscient leader of the city, it was that Ridgedog was always on time. Occasionally fashionably late. 

Nine minutes later, and Xephos paused in his pacing and glanced at Lalna and Honeydew, who were having a hearty conversation about the advantages of adding another layer below the factory.

"Having another layer below our factory would be amazing! Think of all of the tat I could put in there, hidden from the public eye!" Lalna said excitedly, eyes bright with passion.

"You already have plenty of room in your place, what about me? I could use the extra room to store Jaffas in!" Honeydew argued, a little dreamily, undoubtedly fantasizing about all of them Jaffas.

Lalna opened his mouth, about to counter him, but they were both interrupted by the loud noise of a boat engine rocketing closer to them. 

Xephos checked his watch again.

11:59

A few seconds later, and the trio watched as an extremely dapper man stepped delicately out of his jet boat.

12:00

Xephos, never having seen the man before, took the opportunity to look over the clothes he was wearing. 

Obviously showing off his wealth, he was adorned in a cloak with seemingly as much gold thread as possible with a light grey undershirt and surprisingly plain-looking tan dress pants. His feet had on them shin-high boots with, predictably, more gold thread sewn into the linings. His whole outfit had a vaguely medieval royalty look about it, and Xephos had to admit that he pulled it off fairly well. 

As he approached, Lalna and Honeydew pulled to either side of Xephos, staying perfectly still. No one said a word.

"Hello." Ridgedog said, dipping into a short, curt bow.

Lalna and Honeydew tried to follow suit, though none too gracefully. However, Xephos remained rigid, staring right at Ridge. Ridge noticed his gaze, and returned it, as if challenging Xephos to blink first.

He did, and as he did so, Honeydew spoke up, impatient with the silence.

"So what do you want, Ridgedog?" 

"Oh ho!" Ridgedog chuckled, throwing his hands in the air. "Eager, are we?"

"Well, no, we're not eager," Lalna spoke, talking as if every word spoken to Ridge was like trying to talk through a gag. "We just want to get this over with."

"Oh!" Ridge placed a gloved hand over his heart, a wounded expression on his face. "I'm hurt by your words, Lalna. I thought we would make good friends."

"Not a chance in hell." Lalna spat through gritted teeth.

Ridge frowned. He had a suspicion that Lalna's hatred for him wasn't just the hatred of someone with a bad reputation, which he would've understood, but a much more personal vendetta against him. He decided to ask him about it.

"What," Ridgedog said deliberately. "Do you have against me, exactly?"

Lalna paused, incredulous.

"As if you don't know!" 

Ridgedog thought for a moment, noticing the startled glances Lalna's friends had given him. Evidently, this was a sudden realisation on their part, that their friend had had a previous encounter with him. Except he didn't.

"I can assure you that I have never met you in my life."

"You may not have met me, but you sure as hell had something to do with a man named Rythian!" Lalna roared, clenching his hands into fists.

Xephos noticed some movement around them, and forgetting Lalna's name-drop temporarily, slowly started to reach a hand towards his inner coat pocket, when Ridgedog twitched a finger slightly and the shadows stopped in their tracks. 

After calming his over-eager guards, Ridge returned at the matter at hand. Yes, he did recall a man named Rythian. 

"I believe I caught him snooping around my headquarters." He mused. "He needed to be taught a lesson."

"So you sliced his face into shreds?!" Lalna growled, knuckles white.

"It wasn't that bad. He just needed to be taught a lesson about sneaking around. Evidently that didn't exactly work. Besides, doesn't he wear that scarf now, anyway?" Ridge carefully watched Lalna's expression, noting as it slowly turned incredulous from his apathy.

"What's it matter to you, anyway?" 

Lalna jumped, startled at a new voice joining the conversation, but he realised immediately after that it was only Honeydew. "Don't you hate his guts?"

Ridge fell silent, waiting for the conversation to continue, filing information away into his memory.

"Um," Lalna stammered, stumbling over his words. "We were pretty close for a while, but... shit happens, and now we don't talk anymore."

"Seems like some serious shit that went down, then" Xephos said, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"You could say that." Lalna sighed, looking off to the side of Xephos. "I still miss him though. I wish we'd kept in touch, but looks like that didn't happen." He laughed dryly, fists slowly loosening until his arms fell limply at his sides.

After a few moments of silence, Ridge coughed lightly, bringing the trio's attention back to him. "While now I understand your hostility towards me, that doesn't stop me from talking to you."

"So why _did_ you come then," Xephos asked, facing Ridge.

"Oh, I have a...favour to ask of you."

"What?" Honeydew blurted out. "A favour?"

"Yes."

Xephos shook his head, confused. Ridge never asks for favours. You either did what he told you to do or you were gone. So what does he want?

Xephos decided to ask him just that, ignoring Lalna's warning glance. He was curious, but not about to fall into Ridge's trap any time soon., if there is one.

"Just a tiny favour, really." Ridge brought his index finger and thumb a millimetre apart. "A _tiny_ , tiny favour."

"I want you to acquire some information for me. It might require some persuasion from your part to get that intelligence, but I think this will be worth your while." 

"Where, and who from?" Lewis asked, cautiously.

"A certain dynamic duo, if you will," Ridge responded.

"Who, Sips and Sjin?" Lalna said, incredulously.

"Yes," Ridge sighed, seemingly exasperated by all of their questions. "The Sips Co. cohorts."

"B-But-" Honeydew stuttered, not sure what to think of the offer. "They're still out for our guts, in case you didn't already know. Any... Further action could be pretty ugly for us."

"Did I ask of your relations with them?" Ridge said, almost angrily except for his voice still being as smooth as ever. 

Xephos didn't think Ridge had any emotions other than perfectly calm.

"Um," Xephos said cautiously. "We're not entirely sure if we can take you up on your offer." 

"Hm..." Ridge hummed thoughtfully, not entirely perturbed by their hesitant refusal. "How about if you do as I ask, I won't kill Lomadia?" 

Xephos' face turned into a stony rage, and his glare at Ridge was so powerful even Lalna flinched a little seeing it at an angle.

"If you dare touch a hair on her head," he growled, taking a half step towards Ridge.

Ridge smiled. "Good, keep that rage. It'll be good for your interrogations in the future. I want some information on what the Sips Co idiots know about the Lazarus Project. Got that?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "Great. I expect to see you soon. Toodles!" 

Ridge turned on his heel, and walked into his boat, causing waves to lap up onto the docks, and raced off.

Xephos sighed. There was going to be a lot of planning to be done if they were to pull this off.

"I guess we better get started, then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it's a bit shorter than the first, I'll try to be more on the ball in the future about updates! Can't promise a schedule, but feel free to comment if you want to give me a kick in the ass for not updating enough XP


	3. Getting Ready

"First off, we need to remember who we're dealing with here," Xephos continued, as they made their way back to the factory.

Honeydew scoffed, kicking a stone in his way. "Yeah, I think we know well enough, Xephos. It's only our biggest and most dangerous rival this side of the river."

Lalna nodded, lost in thought.

Sips and Sjin were the dynamic, and dangerous, duo. Having their own gang, they were constantly butting heads over land, goods, you name it, they've probably fought about it. 

Recently, events got so heated over a warehouse Sips Co. used that some rogue had robbed of a whole buttload of money that it lead to an outright war between the groups. Sips Co. seemed to think it was Honeydew Inc. who had staged the whole incident, but that was not true. Xephos would plan something far more subtle, for the record. Maybe some skimming, spies, that sort of thing. 

But needless to say, that left relations between the two groups more strained then ever before. Any wrong flinch in the duo's direction and it could get very nasty, very quickly. Who knows what an interrogation would incite.

Even as Xephos thought the situation over, he knew that he would follow Ridgedog's orders. Lomadia had to be kept safe, no matter what. Speaking of Lomadia, Xephos thought he should probably call her, just to be sure.

After the third ring, Xephos heard the clear and sweet voice that he fell in love with.

"Hello?"

"H-Hey Lom. Just wanted to check in on you. Everything all right?" Damn it, Xephos cursed to himself. Years of building up the skills to be a feared and smooth mob leader, and it's always torn down at the first syllable coming from her mouth.

"Yeah. But should I be worried that it's not going to be soon?" she asked, knowing all too well of her boyfriend's profession.

"It shouldn't be, sweetie. But just in case, could you come and stay at the factory with me until this is all over? The factory has better security than our apartment and I want to make sure you'll be safe through all of this." Xephos sighed, angry at Ridgedog for pulling Lom into this, but too worried at the moment for his love to actually let the anger sink in,

"Can I ask what 'all of this' is?" 

"I'll tell you later. Just head on over, okay? Are you gonna call a cab, or something?" 

"Um, sure," Xephos heard a rummaging as Lomadia went through her purse. "Just let me pack some clothes and I'll take a cab to the factory."

"Cool, I'm almost there myself, so I'll meet you there."

"Okay, bye."

Hanging up his phone, Xephos felt his mind wander to the task at hand, specifically how to plan a kidnapping against his sworn enemies. 

"Any ideas, guys?" he asked, shoving his phone in his pocket.

"Well," Lalna started. "I was thinking we could draw them out with sort of a mock meeting, then maybe knock everyone out with some gas? I probably can whip something up that could be pretty effective."

"Yeah, that might work. You think you can make something like that soon in the factory?"

Honeydew remained silent, but Xephos knew that the gears in his mind were churning, no matter what actually came out of his mouth. 

"Oh yeah, no problem. I can do it in a jiffy."

"Cool. Honeydew, got anything to say?" Xephos asked, looking over at his friend. 

"Um, not particularly. I just don't really wanna do this, you know? As who knows what'll happen once we let them go. "

"Maybe we don't," Lalna volunteered. 

"Nope, they are going to be set free once we get Ridgedog's info." Xephos firmly believed in at least some honour amongst thieves, or in this case, gangs.

By this time they had arrived at the factory, and Xephos pulled out his keys to let them in.

Lalna quickly disappeared into the lower levels, excited at the thought of creating a new item *cough weapon cough* for them to use, and that left Honeydew and Xephos alone in Honeydew's penthouse. Xephos quickly headed to the bar to pour him and Honeydew a drink, clinking his glass against the dwarf's. 

"So, you've been uncharacteristically quiet, friend. Anything on your mind?" Xephos asked, downing his drink in one go.

"You mean, other than the fact that we might destroy ourselves to please Ridgedog?"

"Well," Xephos paused, taking in his partner's solemn words. "Yeah, other than that."

"To be honest, I'm wondering what the Lazarus Project could even be."

"You're right. Whatever it is, Ridgedog doesn't seem to like it.

"Lazarus is a guy who was reborn, so maybe it has something to do with that?" he mused, glancing down at his empty glass, and getting up to pour another."

"Beats me," responded the dwarf. "You know you've got all the brains of us. Lalna may be our scientist, but we'd be nowhere without you."

"Trust me, I know," Xephos said with a cheeky half-smile. "I tell myself that everyday."

After that comment, their conversation drifted idly to other subjects, like those of their factory and business. But Xephos couldn't help but check his watch for every minute Lom wasn't safely by his side. About an hour later, a somewhat sleepier and dirtier Lalna popped up, grinning triumphantly as he brandished a silver bottle aloft.

"Behold! The sleeping bomb 3.0!" He offered the item to Xephos, who examined it curiously, while Honeydew asked the real questions.

"Wait, you made three of those?" he asked incredulously.

"Well, three versions, of course. The first one was too weak, the rats looked barely sleepy after I tried it. The second one was too strong, I killed the rats. So the third time was obviously the charm."

"Right."

"So when are we gonna use them?" Lalna looked like an eager dog waiting for his treat.

"I was thinking maybe like in the next two or so days? I want to get this over with as fast as possible," Xephos answered.

"Why? It's just gonna make the next assignment come faster when he realises how efficient we are," Honeydew muttered just loudly enough for Xephos to hear.

"For all we know there won't be a next assignment," Xephos said, looking at Honeydew, but he didn't believe himself anyway, and Honeydew saw right through him.

"Yeah, right."

Their conversation was interrupted by a gentle knock on the door.

"Xephos?" came a soft voice.

"Yeah, Lom, come right in!" he called, a smile breaking out on his face when he saw Lomadia glide in.

He drew her into a hug and rubbed her arms.

"Sorry for being late, for some reason traffic was a bitch. You all right?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tired and stressed." he smiled weakly at her, the enormity of the circumstances finally digging in. Basically, he was fucked no matter which way he turned.

"Hey," Lom said softly. "Everything's gonna be okay, okay? We'll get through this. You know we always do."

"This is Ridgedog, so I really don't know." Lewis sighed, burying his head in her shoulders.

"Lew, look at me."

Lewis obediently released her and stared at her blue eyes. 

"You are going to do the right thing, I believe in you. And if that doesn't make you feel better I have no hope for you." 

"It did. I don't know where I would be without you."

"Nowhere."

With a smirk and a short laugh, Lomadia turned to hug and greet Honeydew and Lalna. 

"How are you doing Lom?" Lalna smiled and drew her into a tight hug.

"Doing just fine. How are your experiments?"

"Haven't had an accident in a while." Lalna paused. "I must be doing something wrong."

Laughing, Lomadia turned to Honeydew. He made no attempt to contain his excitement at seeing his friend again. Tackling her, Honeydew hugged her waist, nearly squeezing the breath out of her.

"Good to see you too." Hannah managed to gasp out between squeezes. 

"AH I MISSED YOU!" Honeydew squealed, letting her go and grinning like a lunatic.

"Me too, Hon, me too." She grinned, and sat at the couch.

"So what's the deal?" Hannah's face suddenly got serious.

Sighing, Xephos launched into a long explanation as to their situation. At the end of it all, Lomadia remained silent, deep in thought.

"So you're fucked, basically."

"Yeah, I figured." Lewis crashed onto the couch, not moving.

"Well, one step at a time, I suppose. How are you planning on setting up the meeting and kidnapping them with the gas stuff?"

"I could just say that I wanted to confess as to what we supposedly did; you know, the warehouse thing. Their ego would probably force them to come no matter what. I don't want to bother with trying to think of a way to prevent us from also passing out, so how about I go alone and then Lalna or someone knocks us all out. Then just tie them up and I guess we can start interrogating."

"Wait. You're going to be knocked out as well?" Lomadia asked, concerned.

"It'll be fine," Lalna reassured. "The sleeping gas will do just that- make them sleep. There's no danger. Unless he falls the wrong way and cracks his skull on something."

Lomadia looking slightly more concerned and not really appreciating Lalna's humour, shook her head and fell silent.

After a few moments of silence, Xephos spoke again. "Look, I'm gonna set up the meeting, okay? I'll send over one of our messengers over to one of their known hideouts. It'll blow the intel we've gathered, but whatever."

"What if they interrogate him?" Honeydew asked.

"Oh, they're going to kill him on sight; there's no question about it. Can't really avoid it, nor do I care enough to try. But hey, I'll send him a letter through the dead man's pocket. Then they'll definitely see it."

"Okay, send him on over, and we should get a response by- what do you think? Tomorrow afternoon?" Honeydew said.

"Yeah," Lalna responded. "We can't expect them to wake up early."

"Glad we finally discussed this through. Lom?"

Lomadia looked up, seemingly startled from a deep thought. "Yeah?"

"Do you want to go to my room here? I'm tired, so why don't you just go up ahead of me. I'll be right up."

She nodded slowly, then left the room.

"Honeydew, Lalna."

They looked up at their name, and were surprised and a little scared to see Xephos' face. He had a look of intense anger and passion, and he fixed them with his gaze.

"Since I'm going to be handling the meeting and you two are needed in the background, Lomadia needs to come with you for her safety. But she still needs protection while you're with her. So I don't want to see a single hair on her head touched by anyone except us three, okay? If anyone tries to hurt her or take her away from me, someone is going to have to pay." 

Though he said the last sentence more to himself than to the two standing in front of him, they got the point. After assuring him of their vigilance, they all retired to their respective rooms, Honeydew staying where he was, naturally.

Xephos quietly walked to his room, carefully closing the door behind him when he saw Lomadia already in bed and sleeping. After his usual routine before bed, he slipped under the covers and fell asleep with her safe in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DIDN'T PROOFREAD THIS I'M SORRY. You won't believe how bad I feel for procrastinating for this long, and the chapter's a bit shit too, but hey, at least it's a chapter? *sob* I can't promise anything, but things are starting to pick up, so you may or may not have to wait as long for a new chapter. Thanks for liking it, though, but please feel free to point out any plot holes or grammatical errors I have, and I'll try to fix them up.
> 
> Love ya! 
> 
> ~Wolvie


	4. You Guys Need to Listen to Me

The next day, Xephos woke up without Lomadia in his arms. After a brief panic, he calmed down once he realised that she was sitting in the cozy chair reading a book.

"Morning, sleepyhead," she said, not looking up from her book.

"What time is it?"

"Oh, about"--she glanced at her non-existent watch--"wake-the-fuck-up-already o'clock."

"That late?" He got up sleepily, rubbing his eyes.

"Late enough that I thought you may have died in your sleep."

Xephos rolled over to look at the clock next to their bed.

"Oh, come off it, Lom. It's only 11:40. It's not even noon yet."

"Whatever. Do you usually wake up this late when you need to receive a message that day from two mob leaders?"

"Shit. I almost forgot." Xephos shot up in his bed, rubbing his eyes. "But to be fair, Sips and Sjin probably just woke up, too."

Lomadia probably would've retorted somehow, but they were interrupted by a loud bell noise.

"That's the alarm system, so I think it's safe to assume they've answered your letter," Lomadia said, looking pointedly at Xephos' still not dressed figure.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going." Shoving on a pair of pants and some boots and throwing on a shirt, Xephos went downstairs, noting the absence of workers due to the weekend. Those who were there weren't too bothered by the alarm; they'd heard it often enough.

As he went down, he met up with Honeydew and Lalna, who were already chatting about the somewhat expected disturbance.

"Hey, coming down with me?" Xephos asked, breezing past them without waiting for an answer.

"Uh, yeah, I'll be right down," Lalna answered, adjusting the goggles on his messy hair and chasing him down, Honeydew in tow. 

Reaching the front door, Xephos looked at the security cameras which were pointed at their main front entrance. 

"Looks like they decided to give back the body. How considerate."

Lalna looked over Xephos' shoulder and saw the bloody body slumped at their door.

"Oh, that's nasty," he said, feeling a little pity for the nameless guy."Too bad for him. There's probably a note for us somewhere there; I'll go get it."

Lalna opened the door, and could be seen rummaging through his lab coat for some gloves to search the body.

After a few minutes, he found a wad of paper stuffed in the mouth. Pulling it out and flattening it, Lalna went back inside, quickly being greeted by his friends' demands to see the writing.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it, give me a sec." Lalna positioned himself where everyone could read the letter, and started to scan the handwriting, clearly Sjin's.

_Wow, would you look at that! You jokers decided to send us a letter, right? Well too bad for your messenger, 'cause he's dead. But we still read your note, and we've decided to accept. Because we're nice that way. Besides, what are you gonna do, kill us? HAH._

_Hope you fuck a horse,_

_Sips and Sjin_

_P.S. Fuck you._

"Well that was very eloquently said. I applaud them," Xephos said after reading the letter a few times to catch the words covered in blood.

"At least the handwriting was nice," Honeydew remarked. "Sips probably had Sjin write it down for him. Architects always have either horrible chicken scratch or nice, flow-y cursive."

"Yeah, Sjin definitely leans towards the latter," Lalna agreed.

"Okay," Xephos started, mind already racing. "I'll meet up with them tomorrow morning, and you guys will have to get the gas ready. Bring Lom with you, too. She'll be safer with you guys."

"On it," Lalna said, while Honeydew threw off a mock salute and marched off.

Rolling his eyes at his friend's lack of seriousness, Xephos turned back to the screen, looking at the man still crumpled at their doorstep. He was already working for the mafia-esque side of the business, so no one should miss him anyway. 

The rest of the day Xephos spent making plans on the interrogation that was coming up. They already had a dungeon, per se, but it's been a little empty lately. So Xephos kept busy by preparing the rooms and cleaning up a bit.

Staggering into his room after a long day, he was greeted by Lomadia, who had spent the day wandering the building helping out with the cleaning and general housekeeping duties.

"You've got an absolutely filthy kitchen, you know that?" she said whilst reading a book on their couch.

"Well," Xephos said, pausing a moment to think. "I think Lalna uses it mostly for some of his more foodie experiments, so the rest of us have figured it was best to leave it alone for danger of our safety."

"Well, I cleaned it, so you guys could probably make some real food now."

"Fine. But quick question."

Lomadia looked up.

"Is this washable?"

Xephos held up a pair of filthy gloves, covered with all manner of old dried blood, puke, piss, and things that were long beyond identification and probably were best kept that way.

"No," Lom answered with a single glance. "Those are disgusting. Throw 'em away."

Without another word, Xephos threw the items into their incinerator, watching as the flames burnt them to a crisp.

"Well, I'm tuckered out, so I'll try and catch a few Zs before I get knocked out tomorrow."

"Sure, I'll sleep soon too."

~~~~

The next morning Xephos woke up at around 9:00; his nerves were acting up again, though he wasn't really scared of Sips and Sjin. It was mostly Lom's safety that kept him on his toes.

He rolled over to look at his girlfriend, planting a quick kiss on her sleeping head before rolling out of bed and getting dressed quickly. 

The meeting was set at noon, so that gave him about two and a half hours to see everything set up before they needed to head off to the warehouse.

After a check in with Lalna, who told him everything was all set to go, and one with Honeydew, who offered him some mead and assured him, again, that Lomadia was going to be fine with them.

Finally, it was time to leave, and so the four of them set off to the rendezvous, spending most of the walk in a comfortable silence until a person in a hood walked swiftly by them, harshly bumping into Xephos in the process.

"Quick, check your pockets!" Honeydew said humorously to Xephos, who stumbled a bit at the stranger's force.

Lalna laughed, but his face still looked a little troubled at the incident, even after Xephos confirmed that all of his possessions were indeed still on him.

"Did he seem familiar to you?" he asked, still thinking and playing with the straps of the backpack he was carrying.

"Nope, unless you mean to say that he's like every other rushed stranger on the streets," Xephos joked, an arm around Lomadia, who smiled in agreement.

"Huh, yeah, I'm probably just over thinking things." Lalna shook his head a little, and fell silent.

"Happens to all of us," Xephos said warmly.

~~~~

At the warehouse, they had purposefully arrived about ten minutes early to allow for a little time to set things. The setup was simple enough; Lalna and Honeydew were to wait in the basement with Lomadia until they heard three stomps above them. Then they were to release the gas into the vents, wait a few, then go upstairs and get the guys tied up and brought back to Honeydew Inc.. 

Xephos left them with a kiss on Lomadia's cheek, and yet another solicited promise about her safety. 

The trio went down the stairs to the lower levels, each carrying bottle of sleeping gas and chatting about nonsensical matters, as they always do.

"So, what do you reckon is the whole 'Lazarus Project' thing?" Lalna asked, as they walked down to the main vent for the system.

"Dunno. To be honest, I don't really want to know. If Ridgedog is calling people to do some interrogating about it, I want not a thing to do with it," Honeydew said, shaking his head emphatically.

"You've got a point," Lomadia mused. "Though I suppose I am curious about it."

Honeydew shot them a warning glare, and they all fell silent until they had reached their destination. Conveniently, there was for some reason a sort of video hub, with multiple cameras set up right where Xephos was meeting.

"What's this?" Lalna asked incredulously. "Who set this up here?"

"Maybe it was left over from whatever used to be here," Honeydew said. "At least now we can be sure whether Xephos stomped or not."

"Yeah. It's just a bit weird, isn't it?"

Honeydew only gave a shrug in response. 

As they were watching, however, any suspicions of the security cameras left their minds as they watched the meeting unfold.

First Honeydew noticed Xephos at the designated spot, impatiently tapping his foot for his guests. When they finally arrived, he realized that the three of them could hear the whole meeting go down.

"Xephos?" Sips called out, as he approached Xephos with his partner at his side. "Where's the rest of your sex slaves, ya big dick?"

"They didn't need to be here, Sips," Xephos replied calmly, as was his nature.

"Yeah, too busy cleaning the dildos, amiright?" Sips chuckled at his joke, and Sjin giggled appreciatively.

"Yes, Sips, exactly. Now can we get to the point of this meeting?" Xephos' exasperation began to show as Sips and Sjin refused to take the matters at hand seriously.

"Sure, what was that again? Oh, I wouldn't know, because you didn't tell us." 

"And I bet that dumb babby of a messenger couldn't tell us anyway. That's how you work, right? Sacrificing people nilly-willy?" Sjin added, speaking up for the first time.

"Don't tell me you guys aren't just the same," Xephos retorted, though Sjin still snickered, knowing he had hit a sore spot. 

"Anyway," Sips continued, "you wanted to talk, so here we are, talking. Now tell us what you want to say, or we're fucking off."

"I wanted to reach an agreement-" What Xephos was going to say never made it out, as suddenly a dark figure rushed into view of the cameras, and between the two parties. 

"You guys need to listen to me," the man said, and Lalna gasped.

"What is it, Lal?" Lomadia asked, concerned at the sudden interruption. 

"I recognize that voice." And an instant after the words left his lips, the man threw back his hood and became clearly visible in the light.

"Rythian," Lalna whispered, involuntarily taking a step closer to the screens. "We've got to get up there. Now."

"Are you sure?" Honeydew asked. "What if it gets messy?"

"I don't care. We can deal with that later. Right now, I need to talk to Rythian."

Honeydew paused, and looked more closely at Rythian. "So that's Rythian? Interesting."

Lalna barely took in his friend's words, too busy grabbing their gear and racing up to the floor. 

"Jesus, I'm coming too, ya know!" Honeydew sighed, trying to move as quickly as he could on his stubbier legs.

"And me!" Lomadia called ahead, racing in front of the dwarf.

Meanwhile, Xephos was upstairs trying to get a read on the mysterious stranger. 

"Who are you?" he demanded, taking in the man's dark purple scarf tied around the bottom half, obscuring his face from the nose down. Suddenly, a name came to him. 

"You're Rythian, aren't you?" 

The man looked steadily at Xephos, and repeated his appeal.

"You have to listen to me."

Sips suddenly spoke up, in a manner that clearly showed his lack of respect of the masked man.

"And why should we? Jesus, all of these goddamn babbies who think they're just entitled to my respect whenever they so please? You've got to earn it, you son of a bitch. So you better talk fast, or you're gonna get it."

Rythian turned around and trained his gaze at Sips, who stood fast, though Xephos thought he saw a flicker of apprehension in his eyes.

"I will, will I?"

"Y-Yeah!" Sjin stammered. "What do you have to say, then?"

"You are all in terrible danger," Rythian said simply.

"From who?" Sips asked.

"RYTHIAN!" A voice suddenly erupted from the doorway to the stairs.

Everyone turned to see Lalna race out, followed by a slightly winded Lomadia and a panting dwarf, and skid to a stop in front of Rythian.

"Lom, what are you doing?" Xephos hissed, taking a few steps toward her.

"Watching the show. I'll be fine, don't mind me." She waved a hand dismissively, and with a final glare, turned and disappeared into the shadows.

Meanwhile, Lalna was still staring at Rythian, not moving a muscle.

"Is it really you?" Lalna half whispered, a hand almost out.

His face remained impenetrable and unreadable. 

"I suppose."

A half smile broke out on Lalna's face. 

"How h--"

"Ridgedog."

"What?" Lalna's face fell, and a slow anger at the name replaced the previous smile.

"He's the danger here," Rythian said.

Sips snorted. "Yeah, like we didn't already know that. News flash buddy, but there hasn't exactly been a shortage of evidence that Ridgedog isn't the nice guy on the block."

"You don't understand, he's setting you guys up."

"Whatdya mean?" Sips asked, eyes flickering suspiciously to Xephos and his recently joined friends. Suddenly, his eyes widened.

"You mothers set us up!" Sjin exclaimed, reaching his conclusion at the same time as his cohort.

"You sons of bitches!" Sips glowered at the trio, and reached into his jacket.

"Now!" Xephos shouted, and Lalna reacted immediately. 

Shoving Honeydew out of the group, Lalna threw down the sleeping potions, shattering their glass cases immediately and knocking out everyone in the general vicinity, except for him, Honeydew, and Xephos, of course. But as he slowly approached the clearing fog, he only counted two bodies, Sips and Sjin.

"Rythian!" Lalna called. "Show yourself!" 

Xephos just managed to turn around to see a glimpse of purple fabric in the almost gone mist, so he ran towards it, and found himself facing a gleaming red dagger, poised right for his throat.

Thinking quickly, Xephos twisted and ducked, watching as the dagger disappeared, and a body take its place. With the mist now completely gone, Xephos had a clear view of Rythian, who appeared to have been able to escape the effects of the fog, but just barely. Swaying on his feet slightly, he took a jab at Xephos' face, but Xephos was able to dodge it easily, and knocked him out with a punch.

Looking up from Rythian, Xephos saw Sips and Sjin already securely tied up, and Honeydew running over, rope in hand.

"Sorry mate, didn't see what was happening until I heard a thud. You all right?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," Xephos said, waving a hand dismissively. "Just tie up Rythian, and we'll be on our way."

Suddenly, Xephos glanced around frantically. "Wait, where's Lom?"

"I'm right here, Xeph. I'm fine." She stepped out from where she was hiding, and looked down at the prone bodies on the floor, a slightly sad look on her face.

"What happened??" Lalna asked, racing over to his three friends. "I was just checking on Sips and Sjin, is he all right?"

"Yeah, Xephos is fine," Honeydew said.

"Er, ah." Lalna smiled sheepishly, a little color rising to his cheeks.

"I don't think Lalna meant me, somehow," Xephos said, chuckling. "Yes, he should be fine; I just knocked him out, and he was already barely holding on to consciousness, as it was."

Lalna let out a quiet sigh of relief, and looked over at the recumbent figure on the ground. 

"Wanna tie him up?" Honeydew asked, holding out the rope in his hands.

"No thanks, you can do that. I'll focus on getting our transportation back to the factory." Lalna turned away, and walked out of the warehouse doors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to go through it again because I realized I had left Lomadia out of the story entirely after around the middle of the chapter, so if there are any other continuity errors, please feel free to help me out and tell me!
> 
> Thanks to chavvychap for the Rythian idea, and sorry if Lalna wasn't quite fangirling "like a mad-man", I don't feel like I wrote it as well as I could've, but I hope you like it anyway!
> 
> And feel free to give me suggestions, as always!
> 
> ~Wolvie :3


	5. We Don't Know

Xephos observed the slightly rusted and dull blade in front of him. Obviously it was going to need some work if it was going to cut anything more than an overripe peach. Sighing, he got to work cleaning and sharpening, using whetstones to bring the blade back to its former glory. 

It's been a while since he had needed to use one of these, and Xephos could feel the absence from the more than familiar weight of the knife in his hands. Damn it felt good. 

"Xephos?" A voice snapped him out of his reverie. He turned and saw Honeydew approaching him. 

"So, we've set up the guys downstairs, if you want to get cracking." Honeydew gave a little wink, and walked away.

Smiling to himself, Xephos walked down the stairs, watching the light gleam off of his blade. He reached the first room, and peering inside he found Sips. The said man was still unconscious, or pretending to be, so Xephos headed on in, making sure the door was closed behind him. 

Slapping the man gently, Xephos finally got the man to wake the fuck up.

"Huh? What? The fuck?!" Sips jolted awake, evidently unaware for the moment that he was tied to a chair, and struggled to get free.

"Good. Are you seated comfortably? Then we'll begin." Grinning, Xephos brought out the blade, waving it in Sips' face. 

"What the hell? Whatdya want, ya big bastard?" Sips spat in Xephos' face in disgust, staring at the blade.

Xephos remained unperturbed, wiping his face with a handkerchief. 

"I just want to ask a few questions," he responded calmly. "Let's start with an easy one. What is the Lazarus Project?"

Sips' face scrunched up in confusion, and Xephos found himself wondering at the authenticity of his expression. Not much went by him, but for some reason he was struggling to find any falseness in Sips' face. He must be losing his touch.

Xephos sighed, and touched the tip of the knife to Sips' throat oh so delicately, and watched Sips' Adam's apple bob up and down as he swallowed.

"I'm going to ask one more time, then blood will be drawn. What. Is. The. Lazarus. Project." He enunciated clearly, leaving no room for doubt as to what he had said. 

"I. Don't. Know." Sips snarled back, copying Xephos' speech.

Xephos sighed, and watched as Sips clenched his fists, undoubtedly wanting to strangle his torturer.

With a quick movement, Xephos cut into Sips' right arm, watching as blood welled and spilled over onto the chair and floor.

Howling, Sips bit his lip, taking quick breaths to stop from passing out.

"You. Motherfucker," he said through clenched teeth.

"Tsk tsk, that's not what I wanted to hear." Xephos' eyes darkened, and he stabbed through Sips' right hand, pinning it to the chair's arm.

Sips let out an guttural groan, but Xephos remained expressionless. 

"Now, was there anything you wanted to say to me?" he asked, grabbing hold of the knife's handle, letting it stay in Sips' hand. 

"I don't know anything! I swear! I don't even know who this Lazarus fucker is? Is he some guy you have a grudge on?"

"No. Wrong answer." This time Xephos twisted the knife, hearing the metal grind against his prisoner's bones.

Sips let out a weak moan, unable to use energy to muster another noise.

"I swear on my goddamn life I don't know what the Lazarus Project is. What is it to you, anyway?" 

Xephos stopped, pondering Sips' question. If he knew Lazarus was something from Ridgedog, it wouldn't hurt to tell him who sent him."

"The Dogfather."

Sips' eyes widened, and he laughed, letting Xephos see the blood that was coating his teeth from biting his lip too hard.

"You crazy sonovabitch. Do you know what you're doing, working with that weasel? The moment you turn your back on him he'll stab you without a second thought."

"I know," Xephos said. "I don't intend to turn."

Xephos ripped the knife from Sips' hand, wrapping a bandage quickly around it to slow the bleeding.

"I can't have you dying on me just yet," he mumbled, answering Sips' unsaid question. 

"Anyway," he continued. "This is taking too long. If you won't talk, maybe your partner will."

Sips started, slamming his drooping head back to stare at Xephos. 

"Don't you dare touch a hair on his head. He's never done you any wrong." Sips glared at Xephos with such an intensity he took a miniscule step back.

Interesting.

Xephos let the demand file itself into his head, and winked, walking out of the cell while a shouting Sips struggled to free himself behind him.

Xephos made his way to the next cell over, and peered inside. A scared but defiant Sjin stared back, daring him to come closer.

He made his way inside, leaving the soundproof door ajar.

"So Sips wasn't very cooperative. I hope you'll be different. For your sake."

Sjin remained silent, glowering at Xephos.

"You know, I like you Sjin. You're the only voice of reason and common sense that Sips hears. I don't want to do this to you. Just tell me what the Lazarus Project is."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about," Sjin said quietly. 

"But the problem is Sjin, I know you're lying." Xephos walked towards the man, wiping the knife on a cloth hanging from his back pocket.

"W-What?" Sjin stammered, watching with wide eyes at the blood still dripping from the weapon.

"That's what Sips said, and you don't want to be like him, right?"

Sjin narrowed his eyes at Xephos, furious at the injury that had reached his friend.

"Why are you doing this? If I said I don't know that the Lazarus Project is and Sips said he didn't know, what the hell are you still doing this for?"

Xephos answered slowly. "Because Lomadia needs to be safe from Ridgedog at all costs."

Sjin stayed quiet, then understood. "Ridgedog told you to do this?"

Xephos nodded.

"Xephos," Sjin pleaded softly. "You're better than this. I don't know why Ridgedog told you to ask us this, but. We. Don't. Know."

Xephos smiled sadly, and shook his head. 

"I'm sorry Sjin, but the fates are not in our favor, it seems. Either you tell me what you know about the Lazarus Project, or"--Xephos brandished his blade--"I make you tell."

Sjin clenched a shaking fist, and took a deep breath.

"No."

"I guess it's down to work then." 

Xephos approached, and slowly cut a line down Sjin's chest, cutting open shirt and flesh alike.

Sjin squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to make a sound, though he couldn't hold back a pitiful whimper from escaping past his lips.

Once he had reached the end of Sjin's torso, Xephos stopped. This wasn't going to do.

Stabbing behind the shin bone he twisted the knife violently, listening to Sjin screaming in shock.

"There you go," Xephos mumbled, pulling the knife out and bandaging the wound. "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere."

Returning to Sips' cell, Xephos walked in, satisfied at the rage and unshed tears in Sips' eyes, quickly blinked back.

"Did you enjoy that?" he asked, cleaning out his knife once again.

"No, but I bet you did, you sick bastard." Sips grimaced, refusing to show any signs of weakness.

"Are you going to tell me anything now?" Xephos asked. "Sjin's still there, you know. Don't think I left him off the hook. I just gave him a little taste of what would happen if you didn't talk."

Sips raised his eyes to the ceiling, mumbling something under his breath. Then he looked back to Xephos, taking a deep breath.

"No."

Xephos frowned. What could be so important about Ridgedog's project that Sips was willing to be tortured, and subject Sjin to torture as well?

"Why won't you tell me anything, goddamn it?!" Xephos said suddenly. "Just tell me what you know of the Lazarus Project and you and Sjin will be free. Just tell me." Xephos shook his head, aggressively tugging his sleeves.

Sips looked sadly Xephos, shaking his head. 

"I have no fucking clue what you're talking about, Xeph."

Xephos looked at Sips, a realization dawning on him. Rythian. He knew about the meeting somehow, which meant he probably knew something about what Ridgedog was asking about.

He left without another word, this time closing the door to Sips and Sjin's cell as he went by to Rythian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one's super short guys! There's a little more movement than I would've liked which I thought made it a little dull to put all in one chapter. 
> 
> He moved here, then there, then back here...
> 
> You get my point. 
> 
> Either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Wonder what Sips was mumbling to himself? Things should hopefully start to pick up after the next chapter or two. Or not. I am not exactly a stellar estimator when it comes to how my stories evolves. So let me know if it gets really boring.
> 
> Bai :3  
> ~Wolvie


	6. I Did

Entering Rythian's cell, Xephos neglected to look through the peep hole, and was greeted by a surprise when he entered. 

No one was inside. 

Well, technically speaking, there was another person, but Xephos didn't discover this until he himself was tied to the chair in the center of the room, the masked man staring at him. He was going to have some words with Honeydew and Lalna when this was over.

"What do you want?" Xephos asked, keeping his face as emotionless as possible. 

"I want you to pay attention and listen to me," Rythian responded, his mask moving slightly as he talked, revealing the slightest sliver of a scar just under his nose before he adjusted it to hide his face again.

"Is that your hook? I've heard more times than I really care for." Xephos sneered, one lip curling in disgust.

"Well shut up and let me talk then," Rythian said in a low voice.

Xephos frowned, but sat back in his seat in resignation. 

"Ridgedog is lying to you. There is no such thing as the Lazarus Project," Rythian said rapidly.

Xephos opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again when Rythian held his hand up and glared at him.

"I will gag you if I have to."

Rythian started to pace back and forth, the clicking of his heels muffled by the thick walls of the cell.

"The reason for this deception is because he fears the relationship that may form between Honeydew Inc. and Sips Co.," he continued. "And I know what you're thinking, that you and Sips Co. would never work together even if the apocalypse was coming. But you don't really believe that, do you?" 

He looked at Xephos' face, but the man remained expressionless. 

Rythian kept talking, not willing to stop once he had gotten this far.

"You still have some hope in there, right? You still want to believe that one day the five of you will finally get a hold of yourselves and you can stop all of your petty fighting." Rythian stopped walking, and looked at Xephos. It wasn't anything obvious, just the slight slump of a shoulder, the smallest frown, but it was enough to tell Rythian that he had gotten through to him. That had always been Xephos' greatest weakness; he was far too kind for his own good. 

"Why are saying this?" he said, finally uninterrupted by Rythian. 

"Because I need you to do that." he replied, ignoring the confused eyes watching him. "I need you to get rid of Ridgedog, and the only way for you to do that is to work together with Sips Co."

"You expect me to just believe you?" Lewis asked incredulously, shaking his head.

"You don't have a choice. Where's Lomadia, by the way?"

Xephos frowned at the sudden change of topic, unsure of where he was going with the conversation. Suddenly, his eyes widened. 

"You mother fucker. If you dare to touch a hair"--Xephos struggled against his bonds, eyes glowing with barely restrained fury--"I swear on my life you will pay."

Rythian remained passive, waiting for Xephos to calm down before continuing.

"Don't worry about me touching her. But I couldn't help notice a distinct lack of her when I was pretending to be unconscious."

Xephos almost breathed a sigh of relief, but withheld it out of his lingering suspicions. 

"She came back with us and went to her apartment to grab something..." Xephos trailed off, but quickly came back. "She should be back by now."

"Well why don't you check?" In one swift movement Rythian sliced off Xephos' bonds, too quickly for him to even react, and stepped out of the way to give Xephos unhindered access to the hallway.

Rubbing his arms suspiciously, Xephos eyed Rythian while walking out of the room. Seeing himself being unimpeded he continued walking until he reached the stairs, Rythian following him closely. 

"Lom?" Xephos called out as he went through the factory, finally ending his sweep in the bedroom.

"Fuck." Xephos swore under his breath as he whipped out his phone.

"C'mon, pick up you idiot."

The ringing stopped, and white noise filled Xephos' ears.

"Lom? It's Xeph. Are you home yet?"

But instead of the melodic tones of his girlfriend, a harsh, grating voice came out of the phone's tinny speakers.

"I'm sorry, but the lady can't come to the phone right now." Xephos could hear the indifference and stupidity from the man, and he gritted his teeth before responding.

"And why is that?"

"She's kind of unconscious, but that's only part of the problem."

Xephos' eyes widened, and he covered up the phone while he raced downstairs.

"Really? What else is a problem?"

Finally reaching Lalna's lab, he barged in while the scientist snapped his head up, surprised. 

"Xephos, what are you--" he was cut off by a hand over his mouth, and a motion to be quieter.

"I need you to trace this call," Xephos mouthed, barely listening to what the man was saying on the other side.

"Well, another thing is that the boss is angry with you, and you wouldn't like him when he's angry."

"No, I would expect not." Xephos replied absentmindedly, too busy focusing on the ever shrinking square that was focusing in on the caller's location.

"No, you wouldn't," said the man, barely hiding his glee at his supposed advantage over Xephos.

Suddenly, Lalna pointed a finger at the screen, scribbling furiously with the other hand.

"Yep, okay, bye."

Sliding the phone back into his pocket, Xephos leaned over to see what Lalna was writing.

"25 Elliot Road," he read out loud.

"That's just about three blocks away. We could get there in about 20 minutes. 15 if we're lucky."

"Too late, too late," Xephos murmured, pacing back and forth.

"I can get there in ten."

Xephos was suddenly reminded of their unwelcome guest. He turned on Rythian, fists clenched.

"Did you know this was going to happen?"

"I had a hunch. But I had nothing to do with this, I swear." Rythian raised his hands, palms facing outwards. "If I knew this was going to happen for sure I would've told you."

"How am I supposed to believe you? I have no fucking clue who you are, and so far you haven't exactly any comfort about your credibility."

"What about Lalna?" Rythian challenged, pointing a finger at said man, who was pointedly trying not to look at him. "Would you trust him if he told me you I was trustworthy?"

Xephos lowered his gaze, staring Lalna down. 

"Well, Lalna? Do you trust him?"

Lalna paused, looking at Rythian for what seemed like the longest time.

"I did."

"What d'ya mean, 'did'?" Xephos asked, frustrated. "I don't know if you haven't noticed, but I, nor Lom, have time for theatrics. So do you trust him or not, Lalna?"

"I don't know Xephos!" Lalna exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "I don't honestly know, okay? I used to be able to trust him with my darkest secrets and know that he would take them to his grave. But now? I don't know."

"I'm still like that, trust me."

Lalna scrutinized Rythian's inscrutable face, or what he could see of it through the mask, anyhow.

"Okay," Lalna said, almost silently. "I believe you."

Xephos looked at Lalna, then back to Rythian. He nodded, allowing himself some trust.

"Me too. Don't make me regret it."

Rythian nodded solemnly, aware of his luck.

"I won't."

And he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AH! So short! But I'm starting to really get on a ball with writing, I think. Still can't promise schedules or anything like that, because I'm horrible that way. But at least you'll be getting something, right? Right?? *quiet sobbing*
> 
> ~Wolvie


	7. A Certain Masked Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *edit* (also put in the end notes, if you don't read those) So I just realized I already published this chapter unfinished... I'M SO SORRY. This one has some more at the end of it, so it isn't an exact copy.

Xephos blinked, cursing himself for the masked man's swiftness.

"How does he do that?" he asked, trying to look outside of the rooms for any sign of movement.

"Dunno man. He's just magical like that." Lalna sighed, leaning back in his chair.

"Oh really?" Xephos said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Oi! Shut up you!" Lalna said, laughing to cover up his embarrassment. 

"Heh."

"How will we know if he's got her?" Lalna asked.

"I don't know, and I hate not knowing," Xephos replied, trying to not think about it too much. "Though if our little skirmish at the warehouse and in the cell was anything to go by, he'll be fine."

Lalna paused for a moment. "Wait, the cell? He wasn't tied up?"

Xephos suddenly remembered why exactly he was caught unawares in the cell.

"Yeah, I wanted to mention that, actually. What the hell, Lalna??"

"W-What?" Lalna stammered, caught unawares at Xephos' sudden agitation.

"Rythian was just pretending to be unconscious, and he got out pretty easily, I'm guessing. You're usually a lot better at this."

Lalna laughed, this time startling Xephos. "Well, he's had a lot of practice."

After a few moments Xephos laughed with him, figuring it wasn't Lalna's fault anyway.

"True. I would have a lot of trouble trying to keep him down too."

"Also, where's Honeydew?" Lalna suddenly realized the small dwarf hadn't been seen for a while.

"Hm, I don't know. Let me see if I can find him."

Leaving the heavy air of the lab, Xephos tried to put most of his energy into finding Honeydew to get his mind off of Lomadia. But alas, he found him very quickly, as the dwarf had just fallen asleep in his bed, the stress of the situation getting to him a little. 

Needing another distraction Xephos decided to go down to check on Sips and Sjin. 

"Seriously?!" he said out loud when he peered into Sips' cell.

"How does everyone sleep in situations like this??" he half-shouted, jolting the Canadian awake.

"Huh? Well since you decided we weren't worth your time anymore I figured I'd try to catch some zs. Especially since you seem to be back for more now."

Sips straightened up, lifting his chin.

"So what'll it be now, ya babby? My wrists? Arm? Maybe chop off a finger?"

"I'm not going to do anything, Sips," Xephos said, keeping his hands empty.

"Oh, really? Is this going to be a 'you'll do it to yourself' situation? Because I'm telling you, I don't know what this 'Lazarus Project' is, so you're not going to get what you want outta me or Sjin."

"I believe you, don't worry," Xephos said quickly, before Sips could say anymore.

Sips sputtered in surprise, staring at Xephos like he was an alien.

"You do? Then what was all this shit then??"

"I've had a change of heart," Xephos answered cryptically.

"Really? And what brought this change of heart on?" Sips asked, still wary of Xephos.

"It doesn't matter. The only thing you need to know is that Ridgedog set us up, so I--" Xephos stopped, not quite ready to say what he wanted to say. Sips' shit eating grin was not helping either.

"Yeah, Xeph? What was it you wanted to say?" Sips prompted, still grinning.

Xephos pushed out the words in a great huff. "I-I'm sorry, okay?"

"There ya go! Was it that hard?" Sips winked, laughing.

"It was."

"Well?" Sips said, impatiently. "You gonna let me go or what?" 

He wiggled against his chair a little, then gasped in pain as his right arm moved.

"Oh yeah." Xephos moved forward and cautiously cut away the bonds holding Sips, but he kept one hand on Sips' hurt arm.

"I'll let you go, but you have to agree to something."

Sips remained completely still, but anger flared in his eyes again.

"Yeah?"

"You two have to work with us. Ridgedog is the enemy here, and the only way we can stop him is if we join forces."

Sips narrowed his eyes, unsure of whether Xephos was telling the truth.

"Lemme talk to Sjin first. That is," he continued. "that is if you haven't killed him yet."

Xephos consented, and brought Sips over to Sjin's cell, where the man was drawing pictures in the dirt with his feet.

"Sjin, ya dummy! How'd you get your legs free?" Sips shouted once he saw the bearded man.

Sjin snapped his head up, smiling broadly.

"Oh, well, I got my legs free because I think Xephos may have cut a little bit off when he...uh... yeah. But I couldn't actually get my hands free, so I figured I'd just chill."

"Really?" Sips was shocked at his friend's nonchalance. "Um... well I'm not entirely sure what I'm supposed to say to that, but good job?" 

"Thanks, Sips! Really means a lot!" Sjin laughed.

"So Sips wanted to discuss something with you. I'll give you guys some privacy." Xephos left the cell after cutting Sjin free.

"God, Sjin, what'd he do to you?" The concern in Sips' voice raising it a few octaves. 

"Oh, well he did some damage, but it should be okay in time." Sjin shrugged, trying not to let Sips notice how he couldn't put any weight on his left leg. 

"Okay, if you say so."

"So what was Xeph on about, anyway? What'd you want to talk to me about?" Sjin asked, casually leaning against the wall.

Sips copied him as he related Xephos' offer.

"Yes," Sjin said, immediately after Sips finished. "You should agree."

"Really? You really think so?" Sips was uncertain. Xephos confused him way too much to be trustworthy. That's what was great about Sjin; the guy never changed and you could always count on him.

"Yeah, I really do." Sjin twisted his face in mock sappiness before saying his next words. "Underneath his tough exterior he's got a heart of gold."

Sips laughed with Sjin, his booming laugh combining with Sjin's higher-pitched one to create a sound that hasn't been heard in much too long in those dark rooms.

Xephos stood outside, unable to hear the sounds, yet still feeling a little weight lifting off his shoulders. Especially since his phone just rang.

"Hello?" Xephos rushed the word out, hoping beyond hope that it would be Rythian.

It was.

"I've got her."

Xephos nearly sank to the ground in relief. "Really? How is she?"

"I'm fine, thanks," Rythian said sarcastically, but continued. "She's okay too, just sleeping."

"Did you have any trouble?"

Rythian scoffed. "Of course I did, but they were pretty pathetic, to be honest."

"Really?" Rythian must be better than he thought. 

"Yeah, I'm coming back now." 

Xephos heard a grunt as Rythian presumably picked up Lomadia. 

"But stay on the line please, I'll feel a lot better knowing you're safe as you get here."

Rythian chuckled. "I assume you're referring to Lomadia when you say 'you'. Unless you've already grown that attached to me." 

"In your dreams."

"Would you like me to also start incessantly chatting as well? It's not exactly a strong suit of mine. Lalna tells me I'm quite taciturn."

Xephos laughed.

"So you and Lalna really were a thing?"

Rythian was quiet.

"I mean, don't worry, he never told me, but it sort of shows, no matter what you may think is gone between you two."

Rythian was still silent.

Xephos felt a panic start to rise in his throat. Had the line been disconnected? He checked his phone. Nope, still going.

"Rythian? Are you still there?"

No answer.

"Damn it," Xephos swore, slamming his phone down.

He raced out the door, running until he was where he thought Rythian should've been. Panting, he doubled over, trying to catch his breath.

"Damn it! Where are you?" Xephos spoke to himself as he searched for any trace of what may have happened. But all he could see left was a single drop of blood.

Whipping out his cell, Xephos called the first number that came to mind.

"Lalna, Lom and Rythian are gone. I don't know where they are, but I'm pretty sure I know who was behind this." 

After a few moments of stunned silence, Lalna revved into action.

"Okay, I can hack into the security cameras in that area, and even if they were deleted I may be able to get them back. The only problem that can happen is if they turn onto an alleyway; there's no way there'd be any cameras in there."

"That's fine. Just get the footage and we'll go from there."

"Roger that."

Once Xephos was back at the factory he found Honeydew.

"Dew, Lom's gone missing, and I was wondering if you could help."

Honeydew's mouth gaped a little, but he started to grin. "Are you asking help from--" he paused for dramatic effect "--the Dwarves?"

Xephos sighed, patience wearing thin for Honeydew's shit. "Yes, your 'Dwarves'."

"I'm on it." Honeydew's face was practically split in half, and he scurried off into the streets, probably looking for some of his Dwarves to go and spy for him.

With Honeydew off, Xephos then turned his attention to Lalna. Going down to his lab he found him furiously typing on his computer.

"Any luck?" he asked, anxiously looking over Lalna's shoulder.

"Um, some, but not much." Clicking a video full screen Xephos saw as Rythian and Lomadia were jumped from behind by someone too well covered by shadow, something that was probably a chloroform soaked rag knocked them out.

"What about the blood, then?" Xephos asked.

"Just keep watching."

One of the two attackers suddenly punched Rythian in the face, and while his mask prevented most of the blood from falling, a single drop fell as the cloth became over-saturated. 

Lalna's jaw tightened as he watched the footage, but that was it.

"That," Xephos thought for a moment. "That was personal."

Lalna paused, then turned around in his chair to face Xephos. 

"Yeah, I think it was."

"Any idea who it could be?"

Lalna nodded his head slowly. "You know, I think I might do. Back when Rythian was-- before his accident, he wasn't popular because of the nature of his work. I think that might be one of his former clients. Or is it employer if they hire you to do their dirty work? Anyway, I think it might be Nilesy."

"Sorry, who?"

"Yeah, he hired Ryth to do some damage to Sips Co., but for some reason he didn't take it. Nilesy got pissy about it and has hated him ever since."

Xephos hummed in thought, tapping a few fingers on his chair. "Okay, do you know anything more about this Nilesy?"

"He has a pool company as a front for his operations as an espionage training facility."

Xephos quirked an eyebrow in confusion.

"Yeah, I think he said he needed complete confidentiality for this job, and he wasn't willing to use some of his own agents. But he himself is pretty whimpy, from what I heard from Rythian. That punch seemed pretty out of character."

Xephos rewound the video. Watching it back revealed a slight shake of the man's hands before he punched Rythian.

"He seems to be a little inexperienced, now that you mention it." He scratched his scruff, painfully aware of his lack of shaving the past few days. He must look like shit.

"But a great business man and good with people, as far as Rythian has told me."

"Rythian told you a lot, didn't he?"

Lalna shrugged. "We were together a lot, and I was never the kind of person to run their mouth, as you probably know."

Xephos smiled, and agreed.

They decided to retire for the night, trying to get rested for a busy day tomorrow, but neither could sleep. Xephos, predictably, was kept up with thoughts of Lomadia, but Lalna couldn't sleep because of a certain masked man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year (and Merry belated Christmas) guys! Made any new year's resolutions? Yeah, me neither. Turns out I didn't have any WiFI at Houston, so sorry if you were expecting an update sooner! (Though with me your expectations probably aren't that high to begin with) Nilesy's joined the picture, but there isn't a lot of Mobscast lore on him, so if you have any requests, feel free to tell me!
> 
> ~Wolvie
> 
> *edit* So I just realized I already published this chapter unfinished... I'M SO SORRY. This one has some more at the end of it, so it isn't an exact copy.


	8. Together in Death

Meanwhile, Sips and Sjin were still talking.

"So Sjin, have I ever told you about that movie I watched, the one with Harrison Ford?"

Sjin's mouth lifted slightly. "Yeah, the one- what's it called, Star Trek?"

"Yeah, I think that's it. So I was watching it a few days ago when the paperwork was too much to handle."

"You don't do paperwork, Sipsy. I do it for you," Sjin reminded him.

Sips chuckled, clapping a hand on Sjin's back, lurching him forward slightly. "Well, we do make a good team, don't we?"

Sjin laughed back, already used to his cohort's snark. "I suppose we do."

Somehow the two managed to talk well into the night, unaware of the events happening above them.

When Xephos finally entered the next morning, alone (Lalna and Honeydew were still sleeping), they had come to a decision.

"We'll accept your offer," said Sjin.

Xephos sighed in relief. "Good. To be honest, I don't know what I would've done if you guys had said no."

"Really?" Sjin asked. "You didn't have some sort of threat or condition if we had said no?"

Xephos sighed again, dragging a hand down the side of his face. "You know what, Sjin, I didn't okay? Everything's gone to shit and right now I don't have the time nor patience to try and account for every eventuality. Right now I'm just winging it."

Sjin was taken aback at Xephos' outburst, but he understood him completely. Sips also nodded his head sympathetically.

"It's okay. We want this Ridgedog bastard dead as you do."

"Got any leads?" Sjin asked.

"Yeah, one. And you probably know him. Nilesy?"

Sips' eyes narrowed at the mention of the name. "Hell yeah I know that name. The motherfucker tried to back stab us."

Even Sjin's face started to turn up in disdain. "Never liked the guy. What'd he do this time?"

Though Xephos' curiosity was piqued, he shelved his question for later. They had more important things to figure out.

"He coordinated an effort to take in Rythian and Lomadia when they were coming back from the factory after Lom disappeared."

Sips whistled between his teeth. "Son of a gun. Any idea where they went?" 

"No, they went into a back alley with no security cams to track them."

"Yeah, those guys are trained well," Sjin said.

Sips smirked before commenting that Nilesy wasn't quite as well trained.

"He talks the big talk, but he can't walk the walk," Sips continued, before yelling "yeah!" and slapping hands together with Sjin.

"But is he still a threat?" 

Sips said no, but Sjin glared at him. 

"Sips here is too proud to admit it, but with Nilesy's business it makes him a little dangerous, at least. He's usually not had the balls to do anything major, though. This seems like quite the leap for him."

"Do you know where we could find him?"

"Do I?" Sips said. "Hell yeah. But I want to be the one to beat the info out of him."

Xephos smiled. "I think that can be arranged."

They decided to go for a direct approach when meeting with Nilesy. According to Sips and Sjin he liked to go to a little cottage shack thing to relax. 

Busting in the door they managed to catch Nilesy with his pants down. Okay, not really. But the lanky Scottish man jumped when he heard the noise, already living up to his slightly cowardly nature, and they heard something fall to the ground.

"What the hell?" His Scottish lilt was always more prominent when he was under duress. 

After managing to get the intruders into focus he rolled his eyes. "Oh, it's you fuckers. Can't you leave a bloody guy alone; you've got to barge in on him when he's relaxing too?"

His fury probably would've been more intimidating if not for the fact that he was squinting, his glasses having had fallen off when he was startled.

Xephos was unsure what to make of the man. Physically, his presence was somewhat intimidating, being over six feet, and of average build. But then again, Xephos himself was only a few inches shorter than Sips and Sjin, who were in turn only slightly taller and shorter than Nilesy, respectively. However, Nilesy's somewhat meekish expression showed his underlying personality. And his glasses. Which were now conveniently back on his face.

"Well?" Nilesy asked impatiently. "What d'ya want?" 

Xephos growled. "I think you know exactly why we're here, Nilesy."

Nilesy stammered, unable to get words out. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Sips crossed the room in two long strides, backing Nilesy into the wall. 

"Listen, punk," he said, jabbing a finger Nilesy's chest as he spoke. "It's been a fucking long few days for me, and it doesn't look like it's about to let up, so why don't you just tell us what you did with Rythian and Lomadia?"

Nilesy flinched with every stab as if they were causing real pain. Well, knowing Sips, they may have. "A-All right!" He threw his hands up. "I left them back at the HQ. Some of my best agents are watching them now." 

Suddenly he smirked. "But you'll never get past them, so why don't you just give up now?"

Sips found himself being shoved roughly away, Xephos taking his place. The next beat, and Nilesy was pinned against the wall, fingers wrapped around his throat.

"Let me get one thing straight here. I don't care how well trained your lackeys are; they haven't met me. You can either release my friends to us now, or we can beat the information out of you, and we will crush your little system into ashes. Your choice."

Nilesy tried to make a sound, but his lips were already turning a slight tinge of blue. Xephos gave one final warning squeeze and let him go.

Collapsing onto the floor, Nilesy held a hand out, palm facing Xephos, while he panted heavily to catch his breath. A few moments of that later, and he was finally able to answer.

"Yeah, sure, fine. On one condition." His voice was raspy, but he still spoke with the confidence of a business man with the advantage.

"What's that?" Xephos was still on edge, but he tried to cool down to keep a reasonable head.

"Ridgedog wanted me to do this, all right? And I do not want to be on the bad side of the Dogfather. So if I do this for you, I want protection. I want to know that if shit goes down on my side, I won't get the worst of it. So in other words," Nilesy concluded with a small smile, "I want your friendship."

Sjin, who had remained silent the whole time, was now beside Sips, murmuring to him.

Xephos looked at the two to get their input and saw Sjin nod almost imperceptibly.

"Fine," Xephos said. "You have our word. There's a safe house we use two miles east. I'll have one of our people drive you there. Take whatever you need and you're coming with us to get Lomadia and Rythian back, then you're leaving."

Nilesy stood up, brushing off his clothes and cleaning his glasses. "Done. Give me five minutes and then follow me."

Xephos watched as Nilesy bustled around his small house. He didn't really leave the room they were in, only popping into a nearby bedroom to grab clothes and whatnot. There were some curious items though, something that looked like a black cat plushie and a photo of something. Xephos wouldn't really have pegged Nilesy as the sentimental type.

After a quick pat down and glance through Nilesy's stuff to make sure he wasn't carrying any bugs or trackers, they were on their way. 

Actually their way was deeper into the house. They reached a wall, and Nilesy splayed his fingers against it. They heard a click, and a hidden door swung open, revealing a private shuttle.

"Shit, Sjin!" Sips exclaimed. "Why don't we have something like this, huh?"

Sjin grinned. "Well, we could get one, if you want. I bet we could make something work."

"Put it on the list!" he responded as they all climbed in.

A short trip later, and the doors opened with a whoosh, letting in a strong white light.

Blinking to focus, Xephos realized it was two flashlights shining on them.

"It's all right, guys!" Nilesy got out of the shuttle, and patted the men on their backs. "It's me. Y' all right?"

The two burly men stiffened up after identifying their boss. "Yes, sir!" they said in unison.

"But we weren't expecting a visit from you today." The left one said.

"Yeh, sorry 'bout that. Change of plans. These guys are with me, so keep doing what you're doing, and we'll be on our way."

"Will you be going back through the shuttle?" The right one asked.

Nilesy looked over at Xephos, and saw him shake his head.

"No, we won't. But continue your patrol as normal. You might not see us leave, and that's okay. I expect no further questions, is that clear?" Nilesy said firmly, and the guards left once they had snapped a quick salute and "Yes, sir!".

Sips looked impressed as they walked away. "You run a tight ship. For such a babby like you are I'm surprised they respect you that much."

"You'd be surprised at a lot of things about me, Sipsy." Nilesy shot back offhandedly.

Xephos narrowed his eyes at Nilesy's remark, but said nothing.

They finally reached the cell, where Rythian and Lomadia were being held together. The two were sat facing each other. Well, they didn't really have a choice, since their hands and feet were bound together, preventing much movement.

Unlocking the cell, Nilesy allowed Xephos to go in first.

"Lom, are you all right?" Xephos asked, rushing to cut away her ties, leaving Rythian to Sips and Sjin.

"Yeah, I'm all right. I'm going to have some unfortunate chafing, but other than that no damage. Though I'm afraid Rythian might be a different matter." She cocked her head towards said man, who was glaring at Nilesy.

"Um." Xephos cleared his throat, and motioned for Sjin to stop for a second. "Rythian? I'm assuming you know who, ah, punched you, so can we just say he let you go and leave it at that?" 

Rythian refused to look at Xephos, still staring intently at Nilesy. Said man was now backed into the wall, trying to make himself look as small as possible.

"I thought you hated Sips and Sjin," Rythian said, finally.

Nilesy let out a small squeak. "Ah, uh, em, yeah, I suppose. But it's surprising how things change when you're threatened and choked."

Sips huffed indignantly. "To be fair, it was Xephos who choked you, not me. And we've still got our eye on you, buster. One wrong move and"--he drew a line on his throat, grinning evilly--"you're toast."

Nilesy nodded furiously.

Sjin resumed cutting away the ropes binding Rythian.

Finally free, he stood up, sighing in relief as he cracked his knuckles and neck.

"Nilesy."

"Y-Yes?" He made an effort to look more confident, pushing himself off of the wall and standing in front of Rythian.

Rythian opened his mouth to say something, but stopped as his jaw cracked painfully, and he turned away to pull down his mask and spit out blood.

"You punched me in the face. Now, I've been dealt a lot worse than that, but I hope you'll understand when I say that if you try to pull some shit like this again, I will take your glasses and shove them up your god damn ass." Rythian spoke quietly, slowly, and clearly.

Nilesy was probably going to break his own neck if he kept nodding his head like that.

Done and satisfied with Nilesy's response, Rythian turned back to Xephos and nodded.

"Thanks. Glad to see you beat some sense into the man."

Nilesy said something under his breath. 

"No problem. Though I hope you understand that I mostly came here for Lom. Though I have almost no doubt in my mind that Lalna would've somehow managed to convince me to try and get you back anyway." Xephos laughed, arm around Lomadia.

"Hm, maybe. Anyway, how are we getting out of here?"

The group turned with expectant eyes towards Nilesy. He rolled his eyes, and motioned for them to follow.

"There's some doors that'll lead you outside. Xephos, have you got your men?"

Xephos shot off a quick text then nodded.

"Okay. We shouldn't encounter the guards, but if we do and they ask questions, well, I'll think of something. Though I'm not quite sure about those guards..." Nilesy trailed off, mumbling to himself.

Suddenly, Xephos heard quick footsteps and shortly after the two guards from earlier turned the corner. 

At the same time, Nilesy cursed loudly. "Fuck! I've figured out what's been bothering me!" Once he saw the guards, he cursed again, even louder.

"What? What is it?" Xephos asked, even as Nilesy motioned everyone to backpedal with moderate speed.

"I don't know these guards! They aren't the people I set up to watch!"

It was Sjin's turn to swear. "So are they Ridgedog's men?"

"That's the only explanation I can think of, Sjiny-boy! It is time to make haste!"

The guards pulled out their guns, footsteps picking up speed even more. At this rate, they were sitting ducks.

"Well, what are we gonna do?" Lomadia asked, running down the corridor and flinching when a bullet narrowly whizzed by her ear.

Turning a corner, Nilesy panted out his words. "There's a secret passageway, we just need a few more minutes!"

Xephos risked a glance behind him, and saw the guards quickly gaining ground. "I'm not sure if we have a few more minutes, friend!"

Rythian's voice broke above the sound of gunshots. "I'll get you some time."

"Dude, it's a small corridor and they've got guns. I know you're super good and stuff, but even this might be a bit much, don't ya think so?" Lomadia said.

Xephos swore that if he could see under his mask he would've seen Rythian smirk.

"Just run."

They complied.

And then he was gone, reappearing in front of the guards. Launching forward, he grabbed the closest guard, flinging him like a sack of flour towards his partner. A gun went off, but it never hit its mark, instead embedding itself in the thrown guard. He died instantly. Then Rythian wrenched the gun from lifeless fingers, already slick with blood, and fired two quick shots into the guard who was still trying to scramble back to his feet. That man collapsed like a felled tree, ending up in a sprawl next to the other.

Rythian tossed the gun disdainfully away, wiping his hands on his clothes. They were ruined anyway. In the process he saw something just barely catching the light. It had fallen out of the second guard's pocket and was already rapidly soaking up blood.

Scooping it up, he saw that it was a picture of the two guards together in uniform, kissing in a simple room. Undoubtedly a hastily cobbled together wedding. Maybe they were about to be deployed, maybe they were about to go into Ridgedog's services. Same thing.

 _Together in death, I suppose,_ Rythian thought, and let the picture slip from his fingers to join the bodies at his feet.

Sjin's voice suddenly pierced the silence. 

"Rythian? There hasn't been any gunshots in a while, so we can only assume you're either dead or they are. Um, I won't peek around, just in case they're tricking us. But why don't you come to my voice; Nilesy's got the passageway working."

"But don't follow me if you're a guard," Sjin added, just in case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this?? Another chapter? So soon? Yeah, I don't know what's happened to me either. Maybe it's because we've reached 1,000 hits! Holy cow, that's amazing guys! I know it's obviously not much compared to others, but to me it's basically the whole freaking world. I'm so grateful that you have given my story a chance, especially since I've really only just started writing like this (as in actually trying to finish a story lol). Also thanks so much for everyone who's left kudos, you've really given me the determination to keep going. Hopefully I'll only keep improving my writing from here, and again, cheers to everyone who have read my story!
> 
> ~Wolvie


	9. It's the Lifestyle

Chuckling a little to himself, Rythian walked to Sjin, announcing his presence as he did so, just in case they decided to shoot first and figure out who it was later.

"Wow, would you look at that!" Sips said. "The bastard made it back alive after all. What a shocker."

The rest agreed, but strangely Sjin was quiet. 

"Hey Sjin, what's with the silence?" Sips asked jokingly, but his smile died when he saw his face.

Sjin's face was pallid, and he seemed to be struggling to stay upright. Further investigation revealed that copious amounts of blood were seeping through his trousers.

"Shit, Sjin! Did they hit you?" Sips cried out, rushing to Sjin's side.

"Um, well, Sips, I, uh," Sjin's voice was weak, likely because of the loss of blood. "I think our little run there may have opened up some of the wounds Xephos inflicted on me during interrogation."

Sips turned to glare at a concerned Xephos. "What did you do to him?" he asked, clutching his suddenly smarting hand.

"I stabbed him in the shin."

While normally Sips may have laughed at hearing Sjin injured in his shin, this was not a normal time. This time he sighed instead, knowing Xephos was just doing what he could in what seemed like hopeless circumstances. Just, he wished he didn't have to take it out on Sjin's leg.

"Well, that's that I suppose. Lemme take a look." Sips crouched down next to Sjin, forcing his pant leg up, mumbling an apology when he heard him quickly draw a breath in in pain.

It wasn't a complete mess down there; Xephos knew how to bandage a wound. But Sjin was right. Whatever healing his leg may have done in the short time it was allowed was now gone, and dark blood was now oozing down his leg.

"Nilesy, got any med stuff in this secret passage of yours?"

His muffled voice responded.

"As a matter of fact, I do. I was just looking for it. This passageway was made for events like this, more or less, so I tried to be prepared." He emerged from a side door brandishing a box with a red cross.

Saying his thanks, Sips deftly cleaned and bandaged Sjin's leg, and they were off again down the dimly lit corridor, Sips supporting Sjin.

Finally making it to the outside, Sjin rubbed his eyes and sneezed. 

"Sorry, it was the bright light."

"Jesus, I can't believe it's still day," Xephos said. "It seems like we were down there for ages."

Lomadia scoffed, drawing a sheepish look from her boyfriend. " _You_ thought you were down there for a long time, huh?"

Xephos' men were waiting outside, and Nilesy bid them a quick goodbye, anxious to get to the safe house and as far away from all the madness as possible. There were also some people to drive the rest back to the factory, so they all piled into a few cars and were off.

Their arrival at the factory brought Honeydew and Lalna to the door.

"Oh my god, Xephos! Jesus, you guys look like you've been to hell and back!" Honeydew exclaimed. "And you've brought Lomadia back!"

"Yeah, that's right Honeydew. Looks like we didn't need your Dwarves after all."

Honeydew frowned, a little upset that they didn't get any use. But Lalna was still cheerful, especially after seeing Rythian.

"Hey Ryth! Wow, is it just me or is your scarf darker than normal?" he asked, trying to keep it casual.

"It's blood," he answered gruffly. 

"Oh."

"If you want to wash up, showers and washing machines are on the 2nd floor," Xephos said, pointing to the elevators and stairs.

Grunting thanks, Rythian left.

Sjin was now feeling a little better, so he stopped leaning so heavily on Sips. Sips missed the warmth, but he wasn't about to say that.

"So what are they doing here?" Honeydew asked, pointing to the duo.

"They're helping us now, so they gave us the info we needed on Nilesy," said Xephos.

"Wow, a lot has happened, huh?" Lalna asked. He was obviously absorbed in his work for the day, so he didn't really notice the time going by.

"Tell me about it," Sips said, trudging by with Sjin in tow. "We're gonna bunk here, all right?"

"6th floor."

"Thanks."

Lomadia decided to follow them shortly after, saying she wanted to crash as well.

Finally it was just the original trio. 

"So is it over then?" Lalna asked, now that they were all alone.

Xephos ruffled his hair before answering. "Unfortunately, I don't think so. Ridgedog knows we're on to him or else he wouldn't have put his own guards on Lom and Rythian without telling Nilesy first. Or he doesn't trust the guy, which is also understandable. Regardless, we're on his radar now, and the only way to make this all stop is to..." Xephos trailed off, not sure what to say.

"To what, Xephos?" Honeydew asked. "Do you want him dead?"

Xephos shrugged. "I don't know, Dew, I don't know. But I want to make sure he doesn't hurt us ever again. I'm not sure how to accomplish that without killing him."

Lalna spoke up. "Well how can we strip him of power?"

"Humiliate him?" Honeydew offered.

"How? How could we possibly find something about him that's so humiliating no one respects him anymore? He's a riddle wrapped in an enigma covered in solid gold," Xephos said, frustrated. "And even if we do manage to dethrone him, what then? It'll be chaos. As much as his control over this city is despicable, it keeps a lot of more dangerous criminals in line."

"Well..." Honeydew drawled, shooting a meaningful look at Lalna, who finished what Honeydew was thinking.

"You could take his place, you know," Lalna said.

Xephos spluttered. "Me? I don't think I can be trusted with that sort of power. I barely trust myself."

"But _we_ trust you to do the right thing. Or else we wouldn't be where we are now," said Honeydew.

Xephos was silent in thought. "Okay, well if I do decide to take his place, that doesn't address the problem of getting him off in the first place."

"You know, we might not have to outright confront him," Lalna mused. "We might be able to build up more power than him to the point where he can't do anything."

The corners of Xephos' mouth curled up slightly. "I think you may be up to something."

"Yeah, I mean, we've already got Sips Co., Nilesy, and Rythian. Arguably they're the most powerful people to have on our side."

"There's one other person I can think of that could help our efforts considerably," said a sudden voice.

The three turned to see Rythian standing a few feet away, considerably cleaner and with a new purple scarf around his face. The wash up also helped Xephos notice a streak of blond that was combed up along with the rest of his hair. 

Lalna thought Rythian looked dashing. If only he took that damn thing off so that he could--

"Who are you thinking of?" Honeydew asked, breaking both Xephos and Lalna out of their reveries.

"Will Strife," Rythian said. "If there's a more informed man in this city I haven't met them. He knows a little about a lot of people, and if that isn't going to help us I don't know what will. Not to mention his overall intelligence."

Lalna frowned at Rythian's last comment. Rythian caught the scientist's expression, and winked. 

"Of course, he isn't as smart as a certain lab coated blonde," he said, laughing.

Honeydew visibly balked at Rythian's words, the flirting something he would have never expected from the hit man. Xephos blinked as well, his more practiced stoic expression stopping more emotion from showing.

Lalna giggled like a school girl, blushing.

Xephos recovered first. "Get a room, guys!"

Lalna remained speechless, still trying to comprehend Rythian's sudden change of attitude. The discussion will have to wait, as so many things have to.

Rythian also stopped talking, and was silent again. It took a moment for Xephos to realize he was waiting for a response to his previous statement.

"Yeah, Rythian. I think we could some more informed persons. A guy with connections like this Will Strife could be invaluable in getting what we need to get rid of Ridge."

Xephos could tell from the way Rythian's eyes crinkled that he was smiling. 

"Alright guys," he said. "I think tomorrow is the time to call a meeting. Let's just get a good night's sleep; god knows when we'll be able to get another one until this is all one way or another."

The next morning they were all gathered in the lobby/machines room, some of them more awake than others. Sips was still looking after Sjin's leg, even though some of Rythian's healing salve pretty much stopped the bleeding by the time everyone was together. Lomadia was standing next Xephos, rubbing her wrists. Honeydew was on the other side of Xephos, yawning every 15 seconds or so. Lalna was next to Rythian, keeping a carefully calculated distance of not-too-close-so-that-Rythian-thinks-I'm-into-him-but-close-enough-so-I-can-smell-his-cologne. It smells very nice. Sips and Sjin were standing directly across from Xephos, standing a little closer together than Lalna and Rythian were. Sips claimed it was in case Sjin collapsed. Sjin was debating pretending to collapse so he would have an excuse to lean on Sips again.

Xephos cleared his throat, effectively ceasing conversations.

"I have brought you all here because, well, technically because you had to stay here, but we'd like all of you to hear us out on a plan we're thinking of."

Looking around at all of the faces, Xephos continued. "I'm sure you all know the name Ridgedog. Or maybe the Dogfather, as some call him."

Some nods, some angry stares.

"And I'm sure none of us like him very much. So I have a proposition for you all. I think we have something here, something that could be powerful enough to take Ridgedog's grimy rug from right under him. With all of us together I think we could do something."

Sips squinted in disbelief. "That's nice talk and all, Xephos, but this is real life. This ain't some fantasy fairy tale. What exactly do you think we can do?"

"Yeah," Sjin said. "Even if Ridgedog does lose power, someone's gonna take his place, at least temporarily. This city's gone to the dogs for too long. I don't think I'd want another one like him up top."

Even Sips, who would always prefer the upper hand on anyone, said that he wouldn't want to have that much power or responsibility.

"Well," Xephos drawled, mimicking Honeydew from yesterday. "If you will have me, I could do it."

Honeydew and Lalna were of course the first ones to voice their approval. Rythian also agreed a few moments later, albeit more hesitantly. 

Always the businessman, Sips wanted to discuss terms. "What do we get out of this deal if we decide to put you on top? I hate liars, and if you lie to me about this it will not sit well with me, let me tell you."

Xephos fixed Sips with a stare. "What you get, Sips, is my promise that Ridgedog will no longer be a fucking nuisance is this god damned city, and you won't have to work for the guy ever, and you can be free to do whatever you want."

Sjin spoke up. "Well how do we know you're not going to go crazy with power? No offense, but I doubt Ridgedog thinks he's doing the wrong things for this city."

"I think your faith in Xephos is a little small," Honeydew said. "This man has done wonders for all of us, and he's willing to try and take down the most powerful man we know for all of our sakes." 

"What exactly has he done, though?" Sips asked. "All he's done is be a pain in the ass for Sips Co., and honestly, even with the threat of Ridgedog, at least he's not trying to burn down our warehouses."

"Yeah, I spent a lot of time growing those drugs, you know!" Sjin said indignantly, the wounds of all those hours down the drain resurfacing.

Xephos sighed. "How many more times do I have to tell you- those were Ridgedog's men, not us!"

"Did you say that?" Sips asked.

"Yes."

"Oh."

Lomadia, who had been quiet the whole meeting, finally spoke. "Sips and Sjin, I think you're missing the point here. Ridgedog works from the shadows; we have no idea where his influence is, or who could be under his control. So this arrangement is for the best of us."

Sips narrowed his eyes, but finally voiced his extremely hesitant consent. 

"Fine, we're in. What's the plan?"

Xephos finally hesitated, a sheepish expression starting to cross his face. "Well, that's sort of the problem here. Other than--"

"Are you telling me you want us to just follow you like some fucking sheep, and you don't even have a plan?" Sips said loudly.

"No, I didn't," Xephos retorted, straightening his spine. "We know we're going after Ridgedog, but first we need to build up our power. The first on the list is Will Strife. Rythian tells me if there's anything we need to know, he's our guy."

The group now turned to face Rythian. 

"Xephos basically summed everything up. If we can get him on our side, I think our chances will improve dramatically."

"Well?" Lalna said impatiently. "What are we waiting for?"

Rythian glared at the scientist. "The only problem is Ridgedog has a hold on him that won't let him go. I don't know what it is, but I can only assume it's blackmail. I don't know how to deal with that until we meet him, though."

Sjin frowned. "Blackmail? Of course. D'you have any clue where he is, at least? Maybe we can get him to talk to us."

"I think he tends to roam, but there's always a way to get to him." Surprisingly, Sips was the one who answered Sjin's question.

Sjin looked surprised. "How do you know that, Sips?"

"Ah, uh, um, well..." Sips didn't respond, at least not satisfactorily. 

Sjin let it drop in favor of asking a more important question. "Well, how do we get to him?"

"Honestly, I think his method is really cheesy; I mean, seriously, you're supposed to leave a note in a random alley, and then he contacts you. Like really, a note?" Sips probably would've rambled on about the absurdness of Strife's communication methods, but Xephos cut him off. 

"Great, well, thanks Sips. We'll leave a note for him. We might need Nilesy as well, depending on how all of this goes down. Some of my guys told me he's safe and being monitored."

Sips snorted with derision at the mention of Nilesy. "That joker's less than useless for us, trust me. The little shit's got no spine either. There's no telling how easily he could betray us; God knows he's done it before"

"I'm not so sure about that, Sips," Xephos said. "He does have a lot of business connections because of the nature of his services, and he seems to be able to negotiate well enough."

Sips scoffed, but remained quiet.

After a long silence, they disbanded. Xephos and Lomadia went for a walk with a note asking Strife to contact him. He figured if he was as good as Rythian said he could find his own way of communicating with Honeydew Inc. that didn't involve Xephos writing some possibly sensitive information on the paper. Lalna went down to his lab, Rythian following. Sips and Sjin went back to their HQ, saying they had some actual work to do. Finally, Honeydew decided to visit the nearby bar, the Captive Creeper.

"Oi! Minty! Been a while, huh?" the dwarf grunted favorably, his bond with the bartender showing through.

"Hah, too long, Honey. The usual?" the woman asked, already setting the beer in front of him. 

"You betcha," Honeydew said, smacking his lips together after taking a long draught. "Trust me, you won't believe what's happened these past few days. Shit's going down, Mint Gum, and I don't know how it's going to end."

The bartender leaned in, elbow propped up on the bar. 

"Really? Wow, the life you guys lead."

Honeydew chuckled, dry but with his everlasting hint of humor.

"It's a lifestyle, what can I say?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, well this isn't edited at all... Sorry for not updating for a while, midterms snuck up on me. Also, I joined an ask group for the mobscast, so I've been having fun with that ;) Anyway, hopefully with the tests over I can update a little more!
> 
> ~Wolvie


	10. Special Services

Xephos tacked the note into a random alleyway as he walked into it. 

_Dear Will Strife,_

_Would like to meet with you. I have something to propose._

_Xephos_

_Honeydew Inc._

"Wow, what a man of few words you are," Lomadia said dryly. "So mysterious."

Xephos raised an eyebrow. "Just lazy. And it's a small piece of paper."

Lomadia examined the small paper, turning it over in her hand. "Yeah, it is fucking small. How's he even gonna find it himself?" 

Xephos chuckled. "Uh. Well, I guess we'll find out." He suddenly gathered Lomadia in his arms, invoking a small squeak from her.

Sighing into her hair, Xephos tried to relax. 

"Lom, I have no fucking clue what's going to happen to us," he mumbled, slightly muffled by her hair.

Lomadia said nothing, but pulled away from Xephos, holding him at arms length. "No matter what happens, I can promise you that I'll be by your side to the end. You'll get through this. You always do."

Xephos straightened up, smoothing down the front of his shirt. "Of course. You're right. I need to get my head back on my shoulders. I'll need all my wits about me if this is going to work out."

She smiled, and patted him on the cheek. "'Course, love."

They headed back to the factory, hand in hand.

Meanwhile, Honeydew was still at the pub, swirling the last of his dregs in the bottom of his cup. As he contemplated whether to go for another round, he felt a sudden heavy hand land on his shoulder.

Starting, he reached for a blade tucked into his waistband. Looking up, he was surprised to see a beaming ginger looking down at him. Mind you, he was used to people looking down on him, but even sitting in the higher than normal bar stool the ginger was _very_ tall.

"How's it going, mate?" he asked, using the hand on Honeydew's shoulder to spin him around to face him. 

Honeydew's eyes narrowed, but his hand stilled, centimeters from the handle. "Not bad. Who're you?"

Releasing his shoulder, the ginger used his hand to instead to offer a handshake. "Name's Alex Smith. Call me Smith. I'm a part of a business with two of my friends." He gestured to a nearby booth, where two men sat, talking and laughing. "We're called Hat Films."

Smith looked like he was about to say something more, but Honeydew cut him off. "Yeah, that's great. But why are you bothering me?"

His brusque manner did nothing to wipe the smile off of Smith's face. "Right, sorry bruv. You're Honeydew, right? We wanted to know if we could offer some of our services to your company." He leaned over, bringing his face inches from Honeydew's. "Listen, we've heard some whispers about some shit that's about to go down in this city, and we want in. Ridgedog's a right bastard, and so far, you guys seem like the only one's who are willing to do anything about it, and can."

Smith's smile was starting to unnerve him, and he pulled away slightly. "How'd you know about any of this? Nothing happened till 'bout a few days ago, and you're already all over it?"

Smile growing ever wider, Smith motioned for Honeydew to follow him. "We have our ways. And that's just one of the ways we could help." Leading him over to the booth, his friends moved to allow the two to join.

"This here's Trott," he said, gesturing to a man with dark hair that hung loosely, parted to a side. "And this is Ross." Ross being a man with shorter brown hair that stuck up in the front. They both smiled at him, though not to the extent that Smith was creepily watching him. 

"How do you do?" they asked simultaneously.

"Uh, fine, thanks," Honeydew somewhat hesitantly responded, unsure what to make of the situation. 

"So Smith has been warming you up to us, yeah?" Trott asked, brushing hair out of his face.

Before Honeydew could answer, Smith spoke.

"You bet I have! I was just explaining to him the benefits of becoming partner of Hat Films," he said, patting a rough hand on Honeydew's back.

"So the gist of what we're trying to say is that we have particular skills that would probably benefit Honeydew Inc., and we're willing to help you out for a small price. Nominal, really." Trott had a surprisingly low voice for being the smallest of the bunch, but Honeydew shouldn't talk about height, ever.

"How nominal? And what exactly can you guys offer us? You can talk about 'special skills' all you want, but it's really just making you lot sound like a bunch of man whores." Honeydew was getting real tired of these guys' shit.

"If that's what you guys need, I think we can deliver," Smith said, elbowing Ross, who looked thoroughly unamused.

"Oh, feck off, mate," he grumbled.

"Anyway, the price is just a little bit of leeway and protection in what we do. We're never going to go against Honeydew Inc., but we want to start our own little business here, and it would be nice if we knew at least one o' the big guys are looking out for us."

Ross spoke up unexpectedly. "As for what we can do for you, I think you'll find we're quite adept at gathering information, and, shall we say, espionage."

Honeydew thought for a moment. Intelligence on Ridgedog and his actions would be useful, and if it came down to it, these Hat Films could be useful in others ways. He continued to deliberate for ten minutes, because he needed the time to process what they said (he's not very fast), and it was funny watching them sit in awkward silence for that long. 

"Okay," he finally said. "We're in."

Grin popping back on his face, Smith crushed his hand, grabbing it with both of his hands.

"Pleasure doing business with you, mate."

Honeydew nodded awkwardly, leaving the bar and not sure whether to be unsettled or... or what.

Lalna was in the basement, working on bits and bobs in his lab. He couldn't concentrate, though, because his thoughts kept wandering to a certain man.

Said man was currently watching Lalna as he worked, unbeknownst to the scientist. Rythian was comfortable enough leaning against the door, but he marveled at the fact that Lalna still had not even turned around long enough to see him. He wasn't exactly hiding, just quiet. Eventually he would reveal himself, maybe, but this was more fun.

"Hydrogen peroxide, hydrogen peroxide. H2O2. God damn it, where did I put that thing?"

Frowning, Lalna looked over his shelf, trying to find the container labeled H2O2.

"It should be here. I just organized these alphabetically."

From where Rythian could see, the container he was looking for was next to the shelf by his head. Evidently Lalna couldn't see it. Smirking, Rythian closed his eyes and shook his head, but he snapped his head back up when he heard a curse.

"Ah, fuck me!" Lalna exclaimed, shaking his hand and trying to wipe it down on his lab coat. Where his hand touched, vapor started to rise as the fabric was beginning to be eaten away by whatever it was he had somehow spilled on him.

Leaping into action, Rythian reached Lalna, and used a towel he grabbed to wipe away whatever it was on his hands. It looked like yellowish water, but it was quickly beginning to break down the towel as well.

"What-?" Lalna flinched, trying to pull his hand away, but Rythian held it firmly.

Frowning, the masked man shook his head. "What is this, Lalna??"

"Oh, um, I think it's sulfuric acid. Do you have any water?"

Grabbing a flask hanging on his belt, he ripped it open, pouring the contents over Lalna's hand, using the towel to clean as he did so. A few seconds later and the bottle was emptied, leaving a small puddle on the floor, and Lalna's hand seemed worse for wear, but at least it wasn't breaking down any more.

Sighing, Lalna smiled, righting an upset bottle that was still slowly dripping out onto the floor. "I'll have to clean up later. How long have you been watching me?"

"Since you went down from the meeting."

"And how long was that?" Lalna asked, tossing the ruined towel into the trash.

"Don't know exactly. Half an hour, maybe."

"Hm. Creep."

Rythian frowned, though Lalna found it a little hard to tell.

"Joking, remember? It's a thing that fun people do?"

"I know that you were joking. But- Nevermind. What are you working on?" Rythian quickly stepped away, grabbing the hydrogen peroxide. "Oh, and here's the stuff you were looking for."

"Thanks!" Lalna plucked the bottle from him, setting it down on his table. "Oh, just random things. Weapons, machines, the usual."

"Right. You usually make weapons?" Rythian asked, skeptically.

"Oh, sure. And especially now, since we're about to go against Ridgedog. I felt a few more chemical weapons wouldn't hurt along with the usual metal and lead."

Rythian nodded slowly, though his expression was almost impossible to decipher.

"And do you still have to wear that bloody scarf thing?"

Rythian definitely looked offended now. "What, you have something against scarves?"

"Well, I guess not scarves per se, but you don't need to cover half of your face when you wear them." Lalna almost reached out a hand, but pulled back.

"You know why I wear it." He saw Lalna's hand move, as small as the movement was, and retreated towards the door.

Lalna sighed heavily, looking down to adjust some of his vials. "Fine, whatever. I don't care. I know what you look like anyway. You don't have to be so shy about it, though. I think it looks fine just the way-" He looked up in the middle of his sentence, cutting it short when he realized no one was around to hear him. "-it is," he continued, quietly.

Rythian went back up the stairs, pulling his scarf a little higher.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised weekend, but this is close enough, right? Sorry this one's short and a little all over the place, but I didn't realize it would be such a hassle to try and keep track of a million different people as they go do their thing. And now I just added three more. Great. Let me know if there's a better way to kinda break this cuts up so it's easier to read, cuz like I said, right now it's a little all over the place.
> 
> ~Wolvie


End file.
